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You may think workers’ compensation disputes can’t happen when the whole point of having a policy is to protect yourself and your workers. Insurance companies aren’t completely infallible, though, when it comes to dealing with insurance matters. It all depends on where you obtain your insurance, of course, but you need some contingency plans at the ready if and when disputes occur.
Unfortunate as it is, workers’ compensation disputes are more likely than you think. Your employees may have certain situations after being injured on the job that they think aren’t adequately addressed by your workers’ comp policy.
In a more general sense, your employees may not think they’re getting the right type of benefits, the right amount, or even enough during a particular duration of time. They may even have a problem collecting any benefits at all after suffering painful injuries and being unable to work temporarily or permanently.
As a business owner, you’ll have to step in and deal with these disputes, because they can definitely have satisfactory resolutions. Take a look at more specific and complex disputes that could happen and what steps may need doing to get them resolved.
After one of your employees gets injured, a quality workers’ comp policy works with a qualified doctor to diagnose your employee. Your employee may claim they didn’t receive a doctor with enough qualifications to properly diagnose the particular incurred injury.
Further, the employee may not have received the tests they needed to properly diagnose their injury. This only hurts your employee, because they aren’t fairly compensated for a possibly more serious injury than what the insurance thinks.
Sometimes the insurance company ends up paying your injured employee less than what they deserve based on wage miscalculation. This can simply be a mistake rather than a judgment, though it can lead to some severe situations for your employees.
All workers’ comp does calculations based on how much the employee gets paid. Your injured employee could lose hundreds or thousands of dollars in disability checks if the calculation went by a lower wage than what the person really earns.
These type of disputes usually get solved faster simply by calling the insurance company and letting them know they were in error.
When insurance refuses to believe an injury claim, it can lead to numerous severe circumstances. One of the worst is when insurance refuses to believe an injury and forces your employee to go back to work too early. If your employee knows they can’t work due to a serious physical injury, it could lead to life-threatening issues for them.
In turn, this could instigate major litigation against you. Disputes with ongoing litigation only leads to massive money losses on both sides where the lawyers ultimately win.
As acknowledged above, some disputes are easier to solve than others. In most cases, it may involve mediation. Many states offer this as a resolution process so it doesn’t have to get lawyers involved.
Hearings and appeals are always the next step if it’s an overly complex issue needing a final decision by the insurance company. State workers’ compensation boards usually take care of dispute hearings that work similarly to a court of law.
As for appeals, they frequently have time limits, just like the statute of limitations on legal cases. When you and your employees have a dispute, it’s best to work together if possible and try to resolve it as quickly to avoid further time-wasting delays.
The risks that staffing agencies face can sometimes become overwhelming once you realize the very real potential of certain sticky situations. Whether your agency hires on a temp basis or for permanent employment, supervisory control is a big problem because of the varied jobs your clients do.
Since you’re responsible for all liability in your employed clients, this only heightens the risk factors from various angles.
Facing the reality behind the numerous risks your staffing agency faces is better than tucking it away and becoming complacent. It’s time you addressed many of them head-on by taking precautions to avoid the worst type of disasters that can create impossible legal problems.
Without certain protections and more scrutiny on safety in the workplace, litigation could end up shutting your doors. However, it’s more than just about safety of clients and can fall into the category of your agency’s personal financial health.
Let’s take a look at some of your risks as you look ahead. Finding answers to them now can help you and your clients continue to foster good relationships.
Not obtaining workers’ comp insurance for your agency is one of the biggest risks during the hiring process. Depending on which state you are based in, your agency is directly responsible for any injuries a client incurs at a work site. Even so, most states—like New Jersey—require you have workers’ comp insurance anyway, so not having it would prompt penalties as well as client legal issues.
While this risk only goes by personal negligence on your part, it’s still important to screen employees so you know they don’t have injury risk. Proper training and safety equipment are also a given, especially if you place workers in an industry that involves manual labor.
Despite the above screening for injury risks in your clients, you have so much more to scope out before you can put them to work. Trying to vet employees is another risk you face that can only be amended by taking some extra time to do research.
Things like past employment verification, past injury history, and drug testing are vital to find out whether working with someone is a major liability. Thanks to online research capability, you can find information fast. Nevertheless, you can find out just as much from the direct sources the client provides you.
When you work with independent consultants, dealing with contract issues can become risky if you don’t have thorough agreements about working at third-party sites. You need to work out various clauses in your contracts that maintain certain procedures to avoid other legal risks.
Some contract clauses to consider include confidentiality clauses that promise your client won’t disclose any company trade secrets they’re exposed to.
Other clauses to consider include exclusivity clauses to avoid misunderstandings on hiring other consultants while your client works for the company. Even a reciprocal confidentiality clause is important where the third-party site agrees not to disclose any trade secrets of the hired consultant.
The financial health of your staffing agency needs complete attention since payment from the work sites you contract with may not pay right away. You need to establish clear payment terms with company clients so it’s assured you receive the payments you expect.
If you have to pay your employee clients weekly, you may not have enough cash flow if the company client doesn’t pay until the next month or later. Payroll factoring is a solution many staffing agencies turn to now where the latter sells their accounts receivable invoices for cash.
Still not sure about what types of insurance will help keep your staffing agency out of trouble and properly protected? Schedule a free assessment with one of our business insurance specialists to find out more.
Many companies, especially those fairly new to the game, are unaware of group short term disability insurance. This type of business insurance provides employees the opportunity to take time off from work for a brief period of time—generally stipulated by a contract—and still receive some or all of their pay and benefits.
The best short term disability insurance will provide 100% pay and benefits for a significant period of time—say, six months. However, most plans will only pay a percentage of salary, generally around 60%, while still offering health and welfare benefits to employees.
But why should our company offer short term disability? It is, after all, just another expensive benefit to offer employees, right?
Well, not really.
Let’s explore the ins and outs of this type of insurance, and how it may affect your business.
Short term disability gives your employees the security of knowing that they can go on a period of leave for their disability and still continue to get paid and receive benefits. It provides a safety blanket of sorts for your employees who may otherwise choose to continue working through a serious illness because they would lose their income and benefits.
By offering your employees short term disability, you are giving them the chance to take time to stay at home and recuperate from whatever illness they are suffering from, be it a case of bad pneumonia or a broken leg, and they know they will continue to get a paycheck in the mail during that period of time.
Group short term disability insurance is something that is often overlooked by small or medium companies because of the fact that it is an added expense that may not be worth carrying. Large companies generally do offer some form of the insurance because they have more money and are able to cover the cost for each employee with their larger bankroll.
But small and medium size companies should seriously consider offering this to their employees because it will make them more attractive. The company may want to set stipulations about how and when the insurance may be used, such as after an employee has worked for six months, and then it may only be used for three months.
By offering short term disability benefits to all employees, your company could be setting itself apart from other businesses that do not offer short term disability insurance. Prospective employees may use that as a determining factor on whether to apply to your company.
Offering the benefit to your employees will also help keep them employed with you. If it came down to a situation where an employee needed a significant period of time off for a major disability, but your company did not offer insurance for it, that employee may just choose to quit their job and seek employment elsewhere, since they would not be getting paid anyway.
This is not a good thing for your business, because you could lose a potentially good employee to another company—one that may offer short term disability. Even if you had a small plan which would have covered that employee for a few months, it could have helped retain them with your company.
InsureYourCompany.com has a significant amount of information regarding group short term disability insurance, how it can benefit your business, and how it can help you attract and retain employees. If you would like more information about short term disability insurance or other types of insurance to protect your business, please schedule a free consultation with one of our business insurance specialists.
All companies with an online presence, even those in the tech industry, run the risk of being hacked. It’s a fact that comes with operating a business in the 21st century. Some choose complacency over dealing with the reality that hacking occurs every hour of the day in businesses worldwide, but ignoring the problem doesn’t mean it will go away.
Various sources say that up to 30,000 hacks happen on websites daily now, and it’s not just large corporations. Small businesses are just as vulnerable, even if they don’t get the attention as the big companies do.
Because attacks on small businesses don’t get covered as much in the media, it makes these hacking events more of a covert problem. USA Today noted last year that small businesses are getting hacked just as much or more than the large businesses.
It’s more than a possibility your own business is getting hacked today and you may not even know. This makes you extra vulnerable because you could have trade secrets, client data, or other confidential information on your server being stolen from right under your nose. You may not even have awareness of anything being compromised until months later.
Once you find out hackers tapped into your systems, it could pose some serious legal challenges, costing you thousands of dollars in litigation fees. This is why you should have an audit of your tech security to see what’s truly vulnerable.
Hiring a professional security audit team is well worth the time and money to find exactly where you have security gaps. You’ll probably end up surprised at some of the findings, even if you likely know danger is inevitable when using a broad variety of tech devices.
In the world of e-commerce, Entrepreneur reminds that SQL and cross-site scripting are the two biggest tech areas hackers can compromise. It pays to get a reliable firewall in place for your e-commerce, though be sure you work with tech consultants who understand the real business world and not just your own.
Plus, if you have a Bring Your Own Device policy in your workplace, many of your mobile devices are probably very vulnerable. As such, it’s a problem needing separate attention.
Whether it’s a smart phone or tablet, you’re probably using some kind of mobile device in the office or while out in the field. Your employees are probably using them while on the go too, maybe to log information about customers or jobs performed.
You have a lot of risk involved in this scenario based on public Wi-Fi unreliability. If your employees have to plug into those networks frequently while on the job, it could immediately make customer data open to being stolen.
When you need to conform to government regulations on personal data, you could face major fines for not taking steps to protect that information. You also face lawsuits from customers who had their data or identities stolen.
These nightmare scenarios are the reality today as hackers wreak havoc from every conceivable tech angle. Another security step beyond firewalls takes some extra time, yet it’s more than worth it.
It’s not enough to just use passwords and firewalls to keep your tech safe. Many companies now use two-step verification processes to ensure more thorough security. You’ll even find three-step authentication processes getting used in companies to give more confidence against hackers.
While these methods take more time, it’s only just an extra minute. No matter if you have impatient employees, let them know the extra step is necessary and not that much of a burden to keep things safe.
Tech safety is just one of many facets of running a business that you, as a business owner, must consider as your company grows and evolves. Having a solid game plan in place will help you get ahead of any issues that could arise now or in the future. To get a Big Picture view of your business and all of its different moving parts, download our free small business plan worksheet today.
A workers’ compensation policy is essential based on how many injuries are possible in any type of work environment. Workers’ comp is there to help protect you against having to pay out medical expenses if one of your employees happens to get injured on the job. Plus, you’re protected from having to pay them for lost wages they incurred while recovering from their accident.
These benefits are why buying a workers’ compensation policy is a top priority. There are many that can help you dodge the worst type of financial and legal disasters. A number of those benefits are ones you probably haven’t thought enough about, yet could prevent your business from being destroyed due to the financial fallout.
Nevertheless, if you think you can skip buying workers’ comp, most states require it anyway, including New Jersey. Prices do vary depending on your state, so working with an insurance provider can help you find the best policy deal.
First, let’s take a look at other situations you could find yourself in where a workers’ compensation policy would help save your company.
You perhaps didn’t stop and realize that if one of your employees couldn’t work due to a severe injury, you’d have to hire a new employee to take their place. This expense adds more financial trouble if you’re also paying for the injured employee’s medical expenses.
A good workers’ compensation policy has numerous cost-prohibitive features that help pay for tremendous medical costs and lost wages you’d have to pay to an employee. With your policy in your corner, you won’t have to worry about ending up in the red and perhaps having to declare bankruptcy due to the excessive financial burdens.
There isn’t any denying that the cost of litigation is overwhelming. When an employee gets injured, it could mean a lawsuit and having to hire lawyers to defend yourself against paying your employee compensation.
While some lawyers work without charge in rare cases, you can’t expect it. Your legal costs could end up breaking your back, and a workers’ comp policy helps protect you. This works through liability insurance that’s usually included in most policies. It’s worth asking your insurance provider about this so you know it’s definitely included in any policy you choose.
The worst case scenario could happen and an employee dies while on the job in your company. As a result, the employee’s family could sue you for lost wages and other injuries. Yet most policies help pay the defendants for the death of the employee. Those same policies also pay for funeral costs to help make a tragic process less painful.
You have to expect unusual situations to sometimes occur when an employee gets injured. It’s possible the injury your employee had isn’t typically covered in your state. With a workers’ comp policy, you can have coverage for an unusual injury not common in your industry.
You could end up with an unpleasant surprise when it comes to certain scenarios, including injuries you wouldn’t think are expensive. Some of these injuries could include carpal problems or even something seemingly more benign like an allergic reaction.
Anything requiring medical care is costly, and protecting yourself is the key to your business survival in an unpredictable world.
Finding ways to keep up with information technology for business probably sounds overwhelming in a time when technology evolves nearly overnight. Yet you know it’s something you absolutely need to do in order to stay ahead in the business world.
With business competition being more intense than ever, you can’t afford to fall behind. Not having the right tech for your company also places you at risk for specific dangers that could affect you legally and financially.
The problem with keeping up with IT today is finding enough time while simultaneously running your business. Overall, unless you are a technology professional yourself, it’s usually not a good idea to choose your technology on your own. Even if it seems like it will save you money, it’s best to have a true expert choose for you so you know what really works for you.
Getting a tech audit is well worth the extra time just to find out what you truly need. Because you’ve only worked in one place for so many years, you likely don’t fully understand what kind of technology works best for your business structure in a contemporary context.
Nevertheless, you have many methods available to help keep you a step ahead on technology advances. Most of them are easily done right in your office, though worth the effort to do a little traveling if necessary.
As mentioned above, hiring technology experts is one of the best first steps you can take. In this sense, a consultant (or even a managed service provider) can help you find and implement the technology your company absolutely needs in order to function.
The reason this is important is because IT consultants work in the field and know the realities of what companies are going through. They’ll know exactly what kind of technology best suits you based on their expertise working with similar companies to yours.
Plus, with managed services, you always have full monitoring so you’re protected from the worst cyber threats. The latter could bring excessive downtime, which could lead to major financial problems.
You may feel like you don’t have time to travel, yet attending a tech conference can ultimately pay back the travel costs. Attending one of these conferences in person enables you to link up with tech experts and actually see new technology being demonstrated.
This kind of live interactivity is important so you can truly see what could work for you and what wouldn’t. Once you choose tech that could nearly cut your work time in half, your ROI will likely go through the roof. Even better, conferences let you network with tech experts so they can become future consultants on the side.
If you don’t want to hire a consultant or simply can’t travel now, you still have plenty of opportunity to find out information online. You’ll find some who say using RSS feeds to give you the latest updates on the best software or hardware can help you immensely. RSS feeds are one of the best ways to keep up to date on virtually anything. Any new reviews or articles about the latest tech advances will go in your email every morning.
Visiting online user groups is another great way to link up with others in your industry and have discussions about business problems. When you network online with similar companies who face the same challenges you do, you have access to those who can recommend tech products helping them.
Once you find the right tech you need, it’s going to quickly lower the threat level of something happening and affecting your business livelihood. With so many tech threats out there, it pays to make sure everything you use has the fullest security available so you don’t face government regulation fines or litigation from customers.
Being a business owner requires you to maintain a Big Picture view of your entire company, from the technology being used to whose responsibility it is to keep it up to date. To help you organize your goals, resources, and information, we’ve created this free small business plan worksheet to get you started on the right foot.
A lot of people get confused when they receive the Explanation of Benefits (EOB) for their group or personal health insurance, only because it frequently comes in the mail. If it’s not something related to billing, they just think it’s superfluous and throw it away.
However, you shouldn’t throw away your EOB, as it will give you concrete details of what your insurance covers—and what it doesn’t cover.
Then again, it’s not quite as simple as that either. If you run a business and need health insurance for you or your employees, it’s essential you read what the benefits are. You might be surprised to find that some of it is different from what you signed up for, so it’s worth reading every word.
The best designed EOB forms give you simple, easy-to-find contact information so you can talk to someone if you see something amiss. You should get full entitlement of the benefits you paid for, and your EOB should list them all.
Nevertheless, you have some highlights to look out for if you only have time to skim. Here’s four things to know about your EOB, and what they mean so you clearly understand everything.
The first thing you’ll typically see on your EOB is information on services you signed up for, or procedures you’ve already had. Most forms will have a description about the type of medical services that took place, followed by a code number, plus the date you had the services done.
When you receive your EOB, it’s smart to keep it in your records because of the details available about the medical procedures taking place. If there’s any type of confusion or mistakes, you can prove it with the EOB form you received.
As always, if you see something that doesn’t look right, call your insurance company to get it corrected. Making assumptions that they have everything correct could equal a loss for you or your company, since mistakes are more frequent than you think.
Even though your EOB form isn’t a bill, you’ll see a detailed list of your services and what your insurance agreed to pay. They’ll frequently list this as “billed”, or what your medical provider billed your insurance. You’ll see another column next to the one above showing what your insurance agrees to pay based on that billed amount. The next column will show amounts not paid, which is the discount offered as a result of using an in-network provider.
Again, it’s worth keeping this for your records if you discover any discrepancies in what you actually pay later.
Most EOB’s have a middle section describing the details of your insurance plan. You’ll see information on what kind of co-pays you have (something that varies with provider), plus your deductible. The latter can get confusing, but it’s important to know that it’s always expressed in a total amount for the year. Depending on the plan design, you will see your patient responsibility in the last column. This number should be used to match the bills received from your provider.
Sometimes you’ll receive an EOB form that has a check attached if you happened to overpay a health care provider. Be sure to read your EOB carefully for this reason alone, since throwing it out could mean the loss of reimbursement.
As mentioned above, far too many people mistake EOB’s for a bill. Your actual bill won’t arrive until well after receiving your EOB, where you’ll get a more direct view of what you’ll actually pay. If you have employees covered under a group health insurance plan, it might be a good idea to share this information with them so they too are aware.
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